Facilitating the Development of Critical Thinking in Undergraduate Students Using Technology...
Posted by Ruth Swart on February 12 2015 at 3:36 p.m.
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Posted by Ruth Swart on February 12 2015 at 3:36 p.m.
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How is critical thinking instructed at your institution? Is it incorporated into a course? Is critical thinking specifically taught as a general concept or is it taught with domain-specificity intentionally connected with the discipline of study?
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I currently have my students create upper level of Blooms or critical thinking think sheets if you will. They do this as part of a technology-based lesson plan they create to incorporate technology. Honestly for my preservice teachers it is something they often struggle with at the beginning. But it seems after showing them the need and benefit i.e. standardized testing they realize the importance. Most of mine it seems are so geared toward lower level blooms initially that it takes some practice.
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Hello Michael, Students seem to need to understand and see the importance of knowing what they need to learn to help motivate them. There have been students when they first start in the program, who are focused on memorizing everything and do not understand when they do not do well on exams. As you mentioned, staying at the lower levels until they realize they need to understand and apply the knowledge. The students identified that learning critical thinking connected with the course content, such as application to real life scenarios, helped them better understand and critically think. As your students see the benefits of learning critical thinking, is it more helpful to them situated in the knowledge of the course with application to real life practice? Thank you for sharing. Ruth
Posted in reply to Michael Spaulding
Ruth, I'd love to see the results of this study. Would you please add me to your mailing list and advise when and where you publish your findings? Thanks, Julia
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Hello Julia, Thank you for your response. I will keep you informed. How do your students develop critical thinking? We have never had a specific course include critical thinking instruction but it is an expectation that they be able to critically think, and is assumed included somewhere somehow. Thank you. Ruth
Posted in reply to Julia Allen
I'm not an instructor, but I do assist with instructional design and as a result I've gotten to see what some instructors have done. I know that a lot of critical thinking exercises are built in to the RN to BSN courses on our campus. As a result, the program director has students take a commercially available critical skills assessment at the beginning of the program and again just before they graduate to assess their growth over time.
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Hello Julia, I did have the students take a commercially available test online but we did run into some technical challenges. Do your students do the assessments electronically or handwritten? Thank you Ruth
Posted in reply to Julia Allen
We have them take it electronically using a SCORM built into the course that directs them to the correct test on the website and passes their information from the LMS. The biggest challenge we face is people using browsers which are not set up for the test. They don't send back a lot of information to indicate the nature of the problem; in fact some students are just redirected to a blank page. I end up having to send out about 4 emails a semester to direct students to the troubleshooting website so they can configure their computer correctly. That typically resolves the issue.
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